EVENTS

We are watching the disintegration of a nation – the United States. Trump started his campaign rooted in racism and xenophobia, and has hammered that them repeatedly throughout his tenure thus far. He has operated from the politics of division with fear and hate powered by non-stop lies and distortions. His theme is clear to his most ardent supporters. “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) is truly “Make America White Again. ” His attacks on “illegal” immigrants, is actually aimed at restricting (if not eliminating) legal immigration (from non-white) nations.

I am hoping that this discussion of what hate violence legislation is, and the underpinnings of it, will address the questions (and scoffing) I know are happening across the country as it is once more at the top of the news. I am a survivor of hate violence, and I have friends who have experienced hate violence, two of whom were murdered. My experiences inform me that many people, especially white people, not only do not understand the need for hate legislation, but who actually see it as “special” treatment. It is not, and I hope the following article helps explain why it is important.

I don’t know about you, but I feel stunned. I feel like I have received three body blows and cannot yet catch my breath. I was thinking about how to respond to an attempt to decapitate the Democratic party (including TWO former Presidents) and other targets of Trump including CNN by Ceasar Sayoc, when Gregory Alan Bush murdered two people – Maurice Stallard and Vickie Jones – in an act of frustrated hate violence. He wanted to attack an African American church. Then before another breath, Robert Bowers attacks the Tree of Life Synagogue murdering eleven congregants, and wounding two more, then also wounding four police officers. Three high visibility crimes driven by one thing – hate. These are all acts of domestic terrorism, regardless that the FBI and law enforcement seem to want to minimize the reality of domestic terrorism. Watching President Trump ask those at a political rally whether he should tone it down, the response was “NO!”. At the same rally were cries “CNN sucks” (also found on a sticker on Sayoc’s van).

Joe Arpaio is Trump’s kind of lawman: cruel to the point of sadism, racist, makes his own law, and self righteous to a fault. Unfortunately, I am not embellishing the truth. After decades of effort by civil rights organizations and many citizens of Maricopa County and beyond. Arpaio had been ordered by the court (in 2011) to stop racially profiling people assumed to be Latino, stopping them, and turning them over to immigration authorities (ICE). Many of those stopped were citizens or legal residents, and many were not Hispanic; however, all that was required was that a patrolman, or a deputized citizen (and there were lots of those) believe you were Hispanic. Arpaio flagrantly ignored this order and continued his practice of harassment and illegal detention. So he was brought back to federal court and U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton found him in criminal contempt of court.

On Friday June 23, 2017, Ari Melber, sitting in for Lawrence O’Donnell on, facilitated the best and most extensive examination of Medicaid and the potential consequences of the Senate (and House) Affordable Care Act replacement – aka “Trumpcare”. Medicaid is the single most important component of American healthcare, directly impacting 70 MILLION people, and indirectly impacting virtually ALL of us. From infants being born, to many of the disables, to the elderly fighting to stay in their homes (or in nursing homes) to the poor (rural and urban), it is the bedrock upon which virtually all of us count. This is critical, and what the Republicans are proposing will drop a bomb on the overall healthcare system, and it will result in the deaths of tens of thousands. I cannot urge you strongly enough to take 23 minutes and watch the video clips from the program. Anything this critical deserves you time – and your voice.

Obamacare is “imploding”, “collapsing under its own weight” etc. That is, and has been, the Republican drum beat, but is it true? I would argue that the answer is a flat out “No.” But, but, but, what about those 130% premium increases, providers bailing on the Exchanges, etc. Yes, there are those issues … in states who failed to implement the ACA (Affordable Care Act) the way it was crafted to function. [Read more…]

Trump the narcissist, craving his drug of the adulation of the crowd, headed off for Melbourne, Florida for a rally. Not surprisingly, the rally was kicked off with a prayer – “The Lord’s Prayer” in fact. Three strange things here. One, I get the giving of a prayer though there is a major red flag for me at this treating of a political rally as a religious event, and I wonder if this is now typical of Republican political rallies and events. Two, was that it was not Donald Trump praying, but Melania. Three, The Lord’s Prayer? Really? This seems oddly off key for the event which was to follow.

As I watch Trump’s efforts to block the entrance of Muslims into the United States, and the brutal tearing of families apart in the I.C.E. sweeps of immigrants, and the repeated crowing over destroying what Obama had built, and the white, white, white, Administration, I feel that I am being lashed by hatred and racism. Anxiety, Sadness, Anger, Depression? Oh yes, I feel these and I cry with the children who fear that they will never see their parents again, for I have been pulled from a parent and know that pain in my bones. All I know to do is to speak out and stand up and push back. It is either that or get mowed down, and that I cannot let happen.

Extreme vetting. It has become a euphemism, but what does it really mean? From all of the hype, it sounds as if it steps clearly beyond the bounds of our Constitution. How many trips across these Constitutional boundaries do we allow Trump to go?[Read more…]

Long before one line of NAFTA was written, manufacturing in the United States was dying. Not just factory after factory was shuttered, but entire industries were shipped out of the country, until virtually noting remained. While it is not part of this discussion, as manufacturing left, the strength of unions bled out onto the broken foundations of the dead factory floors. By the 1970’s there was already the movement from an Industrial to Post Industrial society, and the burning question was ‘Could a society that produced nothing survive?’ (Something that is still a viable question) However, the question that was not raised until much later was ‘Can the middle class survive?’